


Fools Rush In (But Idiots Take Their Time)

by thevillainofthisstory



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Danny is 18, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, canon AU, ignores Phantom Planet, ignores a lot of things tbh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-26
Updated: 2018-02-26
Packaged: 2019-03-24 05:51:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13804782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thevillainofthisstory/pseuds/thevillainofthisstory
Summary: When a person blessed with a Soul Mark turns 18, the Mark transforms into an image meant to help them find their other half. Danny has hated his Soul Mark for as long as he could remember and the arrival of his eighteenth birthday doesn't do anything to change that. Vlad has hated his incomplete Mark for decades; it cost him his chance with Maddie and ruined his life. They really do deserve each other.





	Fools Rush In (But Idiots Take Their Time)

**Author's Note:**

> I'm a firm believer in writing the fic I want to see in the world, so here we are: a really long pompous pep soulmate au. It should be three chapters long and I'm trying to get it written while the motivation is still fresh. Enjoy!

Vlad took a deep breath to calm his fraying nerves. He could do this. He would do this. Because she had to feel it too, right? That intangible flicker of something between them, the subtle hint at the possibility of more…Maddie had to feel it too. He wasn’t crazy. They had a connection. Or the chance at one, anyway. Vlad had spent too many nights awake, replaying their every conversation until he was eventually lulled to sleep by the memory of her smile. It was time. Today was the day he asked Maddie out for dinner.

“Jack, did you forget to account for the potential heat output? These figures seem off…” Maddie pointed out distractedly. Pulling a pen from behind her ear, the love of Vlad’s life began dutifully correcting Jack’s mistakes. Again. Vlad stamped down on the annoyance that threatened to flare up. It wasn’t Jack’s fault that he was an idiot. If it wasn’t for Jack’s unwavering faith and abundant enthusiasm, Vlad wasn’t sure they could have made it as far as they had with the portal prototype. Jack, for all his bumbling, was a valued member of the team. Sure, Vlad and Maddie could have made exponentially more progress without him. But without Jack, would they have wanted to?

“Sorry Maddie,” Jack bellowed as he tinkered with the supports on the portal. “I musta gotten too excited. You know how I get when I start thinkin about ghosts.”

“I know Jack but this is really important. There’s already so many variables and if we aren’t careful-”

“It’ll be fine,” Jack declared, waving his wrench around emphatically. “You and V-Man are the smartest people I know. If you guys can’t break into the ghostly dimension then nobody can. I’ve got the legs reinforced and the cart is welded to the floor. Don’t tell maintenance about that part, they still haven’t forgiven me for the incident on the third floor-”

“That’s because you tried to remount all the door hinges on the bottom of the doors!” Vlad interrupted with a laugh.

“It just seemed more efficient that way,” Jack grumbled. Vlad caught Maddie’s eye over the top of the papers she was correcting and they shared a secret little smile. She definitely felt it too, Vlad was certain. “When’s this puppy going to be ready for a test run?”

“Let me see,” Maddie muttered as she shuffled through the papers one more time, “We still have a few last minute calculations but everything should be ready to go by… tomorrow afternoon.”

Jack let out a whoop of joy and before Vlad could protest, the larger man had grabbed him and was twirling him around the room in glee. “Jack! What have I told you about grabbing me!” Vlad yelled, equal parts irritated and amused.

“Sorry V-man, next time I’ll-woops!” Jack knocked into a tray of ecto samples. Dropping Vlad unceremoniously onto the ground, Jack dove for the emergency shower in the corner of the room. Having no desire to see his best friend strip nude (he saw more than he wanted to in their dorm anyway), Vlad scrambled out of the room. He was pleased to note that Maddie immediately followed him. This was his chance.

Slamming the lab door shut behind them, Vlad collapsed against the wall. “So I guess we’re done for today,” he said in what he hoped was a casual tone.

“Looks like it,” Maddie agreed with a chuckle. “Leave it to Jack, right? If there’s a mess to be made, he’ll be in the middle of it.”

“Try living with him,” Vlad sighed. Their room was an unholy pit of empty pizza boxes, dirty laundry, lab samples, and a glowing purple liquid that Vlad had decided not to examine too closely.

“Let me guess, you don’t need a dog to eat your homework because your dorm room already does?” Maddie teased.

“Something like that,” Vlad muttered nervously. He could do this. “Maddie, I wanted to ask you something.”

“Sure Vlad, what’s on your mind?”

“Would you like to have dinner with me?” he asked as calmly as he was able. Vlad was proud that he didn’t stammer, considering how fast his heart was racing. This was it, this was the moment that could define the rest of his life.

Maddie tilted her head sideways in confusion. She was the most beautiful, intelligent woman that Vlad had ever met, and every little gesture just left him more smitten. “We go to dinner every night after we’re done in the lab,” she pointed out sweetly.

“I meant just you and me,” he clarified quickly, “No Jack. Just you and me. Like a date?”

“OH!” Maddie exclaimed, eyes wide. “Oh. Um, thank you Vlad, that’s very flattering but…”

Vlad felt his heart shattering. Of course she wasn’t interested. This was just another case of Vlad placing too much stock in subtext that didn’t actually exist. Normal people didn’t dissect every social interaction alone in their rooms at night, searching for connections and meaning that obviously weren’t there.  “I’m sorry Maddie I thought-”

“It’s not that I wouldn’t be interested!” Maddie interrupted. Her face was flushed red in embarrassment and Vlad almost felt sorry for her. Almost. Her embarrassment was nothing in comparison with his utter mortification. “It’s just that I never thought about it. I mean, you’ve got a Soul Mark and I don’t. It wouldn’t have been right to even consider it since you’re meant for someone else.”

Vlad scowled. Most of the time he could pointedly ignore the single pale grey pinprick Mark on the top of his right arm. Of course Maddie believed in that nonsense; between her love of the supernatural and her innate goodness, how could she not? Vlad tucked his arm closer to his side. “It’s just an Indeterminate Mark,” he muttered, “Nothing is ever going to come of it.”

“Vlad how can you say that?” Maddie demanded, utterly scandalized. “There are so many explanations why your Mark isn’t determinate yet. They could still be a minor, or the circumstances aren’t set yet, or-”

“Or they aren’t even born yet, yes I know. I’m aware of all the contingencies surrounding a Soul Mark, Maddie. Can you blame me for wanting something, some **one** a little more tangible than the promise that maybe someday someone _might_ love me?”

Maddie was already vigorously shaking her head. “Vlad your mark is a gift,” she insisted. “Ever since I saw it, I’ve been a little jealous. You’re part of the twelve percent of the population that has an actual soul mate! When you find that person who understands you better than anyone else-”

“I thought I already had,” Vlad interrupted desperately.

“No. I’m sorry Vlad, but even if I did feel the same I wouldn’t be able to accept your invitation. I believe in soulmates, even if you don’t. You’ll thank me for this, someday.”

Before Vlad could formulate a response, Jack opened the laboratory door and poked his dripping wet head out. “Why aren’t there emergency towels to go with the emergency shower?”

Neither Vlad nor Maddie had an answer for that uncharacteristically insightful question. For once, Vlad was glad that Jack had interrupted his conversation with Maddie. Jack’s good natured bumbling was preferable to Vlad’s continued humiliation. As the two of them searched for something to dry Jack off with, Maddie offered Vlad a pitying smile. Vlad tried to smile back, but he was pretty sure it came across as a grimace.

This was all his soulmate’s fault, wherever they were.

* * *

 

Vlad couldn’t see anything. His face felt like someone had peeled it down layer by layer and then set the exposed nerves on fire. The agony was quickly spreading down from his face to his neck and upper chest. Breathing was becoming more and more difficult. Vlad almost felt like there was a mist filling his lungs, preventing air from getting in. Dying young had never been the plan, but even if it had been, this was not the way that Vlad Masters wanted to die.

When the pain reached the lower part of his abdomen, Vlad finally passed out.

For a while, Vlad floated in and out of consciousness. Voices he didn’t recognize drifted in and out of his awareness. The sharp agony faded to a dull pain eventually; Vlad had no way to mark the passage of time. He slept like the dead for what could have been centuries for all he knew.

At one point, light filtered into his world of darkness. Steeling himself, Vlad cracked an eye open. It hurt, but not with the same white-out pain as before. As his vision came back into focus Vlad could see the sterile white room he was in. A hospital room. Given the amount of pain he had been in, Vlad almost thought he’d be waking up in a morgue.

A nurse in light blue scrubs appeared at the foot of his bed. “Mr. Masters, can you hear me?” she asked.

“Yes,” he rasped, or tried to. The nurse hurried around the bed and brought a straw up to his lips. Vlad sucked the water down eagerly. A little too eagerly, in fact, as he went into a coughing fit. A plume of red smoke floated from his mouth and dissipated with every cough. Vlad choked again, eyes wide in shock. What was going on?

“Mr. Masters, there was a lab accident three months ago. You’ve been in critical care ever since. Do you remember anything?” the nurse asked bluntly as she placed the cup back on the bedside table.

Vlad was reeling. Three months? He had been out for three whole months? “Jack had turned the portal on without doing a final check of the calculations,” Vlad managed to force out haltingly. “What happened to me?”

“The doctor will be in soon to discuss the unique nature of your predicament, Mr. Masters. Now that you’re awake, I’m here to help you fill out some forms. The university was kind enough to send over copies of your medical records and insurance card but there are a few things we need for you to clarify, if you’re feeling up to it.”

“Maddie and Jack couldn’t have done this already?”

The nurse stared at him vacantly. “Mr. Masters, you’ve not had any visitors. We’ve been working on the information given to us by student health services. Are Maddie and Jack your emergency contacts?”

Vlad could feel anger bubbling up inside him like hot tar. He had been unconscious for three whole months and his so called friends had just left him there to rot? How could they? “No,” he answered curtly.

“What about your soulmate? Would you like for them to be contacted in the event something should-”

“I don’t have a soulmate,” Vlad interrupted as forcefully as he could manage while lying helpless in a hospital gown.

“Not yet,” the nurse agreed calmly, “But your Mark is Determinate and if your soulmate comes of age while you’re still in our care then legally we can-”

Rolling his head to the side, Vlad stared down in shock at his right arm. Amongst the angry red welts and blisters was a single dot, larger than it had been but still no bigger than a freckle. It was pure black. A Determinate Soul Mark. Vlad tuned out the nurse who had started droning on and on about the legal rights of soulmates. Vlad’s life was over. His friends had abandoned him after landing him in the hospital to begin with, Maddie had rejected his love, and now he had a soulmate floating around in the universe to further complicate matters. Life as he knew it was finished.

* * *

 

_24 years later…_

Life as Danny knew it was pretty much over. Sure, he had thought the end had come a few years ago when he developed ghost powers, but that had arguably worked out pretty well. After nearly four years, Danny was totally getting the hang of his powers. Everything was smooth on that front. In fact, Danny had been putting so much time and effort into his ghostly double life that he had completely forgotten about his old favorite topic to stress about: the Determinate Soul Mark on his left arm.

Until his life had been unwillingly swallowed up by his parent’s weird hobby, Danny had stressed constantly about his Mark and potential soulmate. His mother had made it clear to him early on just how lucky Danny had been to be born with a Determinate Soul Mark. “Not everyone gets to have your certainty about it, Danny,” she would scold him whenever he would start to complain about it. Danny didn’t want certainty, he didn’t want to be part of that special twelve percent of the population, and he didn’t want some random person suddenly falling into his life and feeling entitled to all his innermost thoughts and emotions. For one, entire thing sounded horribly violating. And two, Danny was absolutely certain that whomever got stuck with him was going to be horribly disappointed. He would be, if he was them.

But now, after years of successfully not thinking about it, Danny’s mom had reminded him at breakfast. “Less than a week until you turn eighteen, Danny! Are you excited?” she asked.

“Sure, voting sounds great,” he replied sarcastically while buttering his waffles. As far as Danny was concerned, the most important day in his life had already come and gone when he was fourteen. Most people would be depressed about peaking so early in life, but Danny found it comforting in a “things can’t really get worse now” kind of way. Being half dead really put things like that into perspective.

“No interest in cigarettes, gambling, and disreputable magazines?” Jazz teased, deigning to glance up from behind the morning paper.

“I mean, if I just happen to have the opportunity…”

“Oh no you don’t young man,” his mother interjected firmly. “You’ll be spending your 18th birthday at the courthouse registering your Mark.”

“My what?” Danny asked through a mouthful of waffles, syrup dripping down his chin.

“Your Determinate Soul Mark? Honestly Danny how could you forget something so important?”

Danny had forgotten, that was the thing. For four glorious years he had had better things to stress about than a stupid black dot on his arm that would blossom into a glorious symbol meant to guide him to his perfect partner or whatever the stupid pamphlets said. Danny didn’t want a mark taking up half his arm. Hiding the dot had been hard enough but hiding a Replete Soul Mark? Was almost impossible. Not to mention illegal in several states. Danny’s mom had, of course, always wanted him to register the mark, but thankfully they didn’t live in a place that required it. If the universe really wanted Danny to find his soulmate then it would have to drag them together kicking and screaming.

* * *

 

A week later, Danny had moved on from the angry denial stage to the full blown panic stage. His birthday was in less than twelve hours. Twelve hours. Half a day. Danny had less than half a day as a free man. No, boy. A free boy. He would never be a free man because once he turned 18 his own arm would turn against him and snatch his freedom away before he even got to enjoy it.

“Danny, you need to calm down,” Sam whisper-hissed across the cafeteria table.

“I am calm!” he hissed back. Danny was calm. Mostly. Sure, his hands had a tremor and his left leg wouldn’t stop bouncing and the idea of eating the cafeteria lunch was more nauseating than usual, but that was an improvement over how he had been that morning.

Rolling her eyes, Sam shoved Danny’s unopened soda closer to him. “Drink that, maybe it’ll help you stop shaking.”

“I’ve never understood what the big deal was,” Tucker admitted as he picked some cold fries off of Danny’s untouched plate. “So you’ve got a soulmate. Big deal. It doesn’t mean you’re life is automatically ruined by being bound to another person for all eternity. I mean, that’s kinda dramatic even for you, dude.”

“Oh yeah? And what do you know?” Danny snapped as he popped the tab on his soda. Taking a few sips didn’t really do anything for Danny’s shattered nerves but at least it gave his hands something to do.

“You made us read every single pamphlet, handout, and book about your stupid obsession, remember? And when you had to take that class at the rec center in middle school, ‘Your Mark and You’? Who listened to your paranoid ranting for weeks after without complaint?”

“Without complaint?” Danny retorted, fiddling with the pull-tab on the can. “You told me that if I didn’t stop talking about it you’d – wait a minute, what do you mean paranoid?”

Sam and Tucker exchanged a look. It was the ‘how do we explain to Danny that he’s crazy’ look. Danny hated that look. He wasn’t crazy or paranoid or any of the other names they called him when they thought he wasn’t paying attention. Danny’s concerns were legitimate, and he deserved to have his fears respected. Part of his soul literally lived in the body of a person he had never met. Who would want that? Who would choose that for themselves?

“People find their soulmates everyday, Danny,” Sam began slowly. Great, this was the part where they tried to placate him with statistics. “It’s just a thing that happens. You’re born, you die, and sometimes if you’re really lucky, in between those two absolutes is someone who, with a little effort, can understand you like no one else ever will. You know there’s no stopping a Determinate Mark so maybe, just this once, you could just…stop fighting it?”

“Besides,” Tucker cut in, “ _You_ could be the older partner and nothing happens until _they_ turn 18. You could be panicking for nothing.”

“I’m not,” Danny sighed, then froze. How did he know that? It was like as soon as Tucker had mentioned it, Danny had instinctively known that he was wrong. Some people could get a sense of their soulmate before the Mark revealed itself, but it took meditation and dedication and a positive outlook that Danny lacked and had no interest in cultivating. “I’m the younger soul,” Danny said slowly, furrowing his brows in concentration.

“Whatever dude,” Sam sighed, completely oblivious to Danny’s uncomfortable epiphany. “Just wait it out a few more hours and then it’ll all be over.”

* * *

 

A few hours later it was most certainly not over. In fact, it had yet to begin. Danny sat alone in his room. The door was locked to keep his well-meaning family from barging in on him. His mom in particular could barely contain her excitement. She had already knocked on the door three times and it wasn’t even midnight yet. Danny was determined to keep the stupid Mark hidden until absolutely necessary and if that meant behaving like he was doing what teenage boys do alone in their bedrooms at night then so be it.

At this point, Danny felt that being caught masturbating would be less mortifying than letting his family see the Replete Mark.

It wasn’t even Danny’s soul on display! Some poor stranger out there in the world was about to have their night interrupted by Danny’s soul bursting out of their arm. The entire thing was invasive and mortifying. But Sam was right: it happened to people everyday and no one paid it as much obsessive attention as Danny had. It was a commonly accepted phenomenon. There were people out there who thought this was normal, or worse, who _envied_ Marked people like Danny.

Danny checked the countdown timer on his phone that Tucker had set up for him. Twenty seconds to go. Danny felt numb. This was it. The time had come. Nearly two decades of panic and now that the moment had arrived, Danny couldn’t even muster up a little anxiety.

Eight seconds. Danny stared down at his left arm. He had to watch it, had to see the shape that would ruin his life as it unfurled.

Three, two, one…

A blinding light filled the room.

* * *

 

Vlad glared at the crackling fireplace. He had been in a foul mood for days with no discernable cause. The businesses were doing well, his experiments were producing results, and the Ghost Zone was calm. Vlad himself had never felt better, although he rarely felt ill. One of the many perks of ghost powers was physical fitness and immunity to human disease. Not the flashiest power, but certainly the most useful.

Even a glass of wine and a decent book had failed to ameliorate his stormy disposition. Vlad had no issue with being moody; he tended to swing between volatile extremes with nary a concern. But every mood had a definite cause to which he could lay blame. This strange mixture of anger and anxiety had Vlad’s head buzzing.

Glancing at the clock, Vlad sighed. Midnight. He had a meeting in a few hours with the investors for his latest invention out of Axiom. It was time to put down the book he had been pretending to read and head upstairs so he could pretend to sleep. Something had to give, Vlad thought, because he couldn’t go on living like this.

As Vlad lifted his wine glass to drain the remainder of its contents, a strange sensation ran up right arm. Another followed immediately after, this time trailing in a loop from fingertip to elbow. Puzzled, Vlad began rolling up his sleeve.

The glass fell to the floor and shattered. Vlad paid it no mind as he watched, completely transfixed, as the single black dot on his arm, the Mark he had successfully ignored for decades, began to stretch. And _glow_. A blinding, ghostly green light filled the room as Vlad’s Mark became Replete. A sensation like cold sparks raced up and down his arm. It was entrancing and horrifying at the same time.

After less than a minute the Mark stopped growing. It had consumed his entire hand and forearm, only ending just below his elbow. The line between pale skin and shimmering light wasn’t static; it seemed to have a pulse of its own.

It was unlike anything Vlad had seen or read. Replete Soul Marks were a solid black, single image. The Mark was a barred portion of the partner’s soul. The image itself didn’t matter; apparently a person would know, on a metaphysical level, that they were looking at their own soul. That was why, the experts said, Marks were black and relatively plain.

Marks were not supposed to glow green. Marks were not supposed to move after their initial formation. And they certainly were not supposed to engulf an entire limb.

Vlad made a mental note to cancel his morning meeting as he headed down to the lab. For the first time in his life, Vlad’s soulmate had his undivided attention.

* * *

 

Of all the worst case scenarios that Danny had imagined when picturing his Replete Soul Mark, nothing had even come close to the horror show that was currently taking up half of his arm. And _glowing_. Soul Marks weren’t supposed to glow. Or be warm. Or keep moving and shifting after they had already formed. And why in the world was it pinkish red?

Something must have gone wrong. Terribly, horribly wrong. That was the only explanation. Nothing, in any class he had ever took or book he had read, ever mentioned a Mark like this. _Of course_ Danny had managed to screw up something as simple and mundane as getting his Soul Mark. That’s just how his life seemed to work. Social outcast, freaky ghost powers, now a busted Soul Mark. Just another day in the life of Danny Fenton.

As soon as he finished panicking, Danny was going to call Sam and Tucker and explain to them in exquisite detail just how wrong they had been. It was going to be the most satisfying I-told-you-so conversation in the history of the universe. Once he had his breathing under control and his limbs didn’t feel as useless as jelly, he was going to give them a piece of his mind.

There was a tapping at his door. There might have been a tapping at his door for the last several minutes, but Danny was too freaked out to know for sure. “Danny?” his mom asked through the door. She didn’t sound concerned at his lack of answer; she was still so excited about the whole thing that Danny wanted to hurl. “Is it done? Can we see?”

“NO!” Danny yelped, diving for the rattling doorknob to make sure it was still locked. No one could see his Mark. EVER. “I mean-yeah, it’s done, but you can’t see it.”

There was a pause. The doorknob stopped jostling. “Danny?” she asked again, more cautiously this time. That was not what he had intended at all. “Are you alright? Is there something wrong with the Mark?”

So many things were wrong with the Mark that Danny almost let loose a hysterical giggle. No, first he had to get his mom off his back. Then Danny could go back to panicking and hating his life. Time for some good, old-fashioned lying. “It’s just, I hadn’t really realized what it meant to have someone else’s soul living in my skin,” he hedged, wiping his sweaty palms on his jeans. The Marked left hand felt significantly warmer than his right hand. “I just don’t think anyone should see it without their permission? Like, it doesn’t belong to me. It’s not really _my_ Mark, you know?”

Silence. Danny held his breath, hoping with every fiber of his being that his mom would be willing to swallow just one more lie.

“Oh Danny,” she choked out with a sob. Great, now he had made his mother cry. Best birthday ever. “That’s the most considerate, compassionate thing I have ever heard.”

It was actually one of the most selfish things that Danny had done in recent memory, but contradicting his mom would have been counterproductive. If he was really so considerate, he wouldn’t have lied in the first place. Danny knew just how invested his mom was in the concept of soul mates. “Yeah, it’s just…not how I expected it to be.” That was perhaps the most truthful understatement of his life.

“I’m heading to bed now, sweetheart. We can talk more about it in the morning, if you’d like. Happy birthday!”

“Thanks mom,” he replied, sagging against the door and sliding to the floor. His mother’s muffled footsteps on the carpet down the hall soon faded, and Danny was left alone once again with his Mark.

Okay, the first thing he had to do was cover the stupid thing up. There was no way he was going to be able to walk through his own kitchen with the Mark glowing like that, let alone make it through a day at school. That was easy enough to do; the government center offered sleeves to cover Replete Marks for a variety of reasons. Normally people used them for religious reasons or to protect their partner for legal reasons and stuff. Occasionally, Marks formed that looked obscene or had profanity in them and therefore needed to be covered up. Covering up was rare, but it was a legitimate option, at least in the state that Danny lived in.

Next, he had to call Sam and Tucker. Not just to gloat; he needed their help with research. Danny was starting to think, now that the initial panic was subsiding, that being half ghost had fucked up his partner’s soul in some way. That would explain the glowing, at least, and possibly the moving around.

He wondered how his soul had manifested on his partner’s arm, if it was just as freakish as what was happening to Danny’s arm. Whoever his soulmate was had probably just gotten the shock of their life, all because Danny was a little more dead inside than the average teenager.

* * *

 

Despite its strange appearance, the Mark seemed normal in all other respects. Vlad had spent hours, running test after test and going through every book he could think of, and all he could figure out for certain was that his right arm was a precise 13.07°F cooler than his left arm. That sort of temperature difference would have been alarming to a human; for Vlad it was even more concerning. His ghost powers should have been able to regulate the temperature in his wayward limb. The thought that whoever’s soul had taken up residence in his arm was more powerful than his ghost powers was…disconcerting.

Finally, after yet another blood test that showed nothing abnormal, Vlad decided it was time to take a break. His arm was not going anywhere, he had the rest of eternity to run as many tests as he wanted. After he managed to come up with some more test, anyway.

Vlad leaned back from his microscope and stretched, humming contentedly when his back cracked. Lab time seemed to have been just what the doctor ordered to shake off whatever malaise had consumed him. Vlad hadn’t felt so refreshed in a long time. The thought of sleep was actually appealing for once.

A warning tone from his Ghost Portal interrupted Vlad’s plans for milk and cookies before finally going to bed. Sighing, Vlad willed the transformation from man to monster. As the black transformation rings dissipated, Vlad floated over to his Ghost Portal and pressed the button to allow his unexpected guest to enter. Ghosts had no sense of propriety; no one with even an ounce of courtesy would call upon someone at such a late hour.

“I know you don’t like it when I interrupt your weak human slumber, but-” Skulker began as he pulled his bulk through the portal, hauling a sack behind him, “I thought you’d want this sooner rather than later.”

“And what, pray tell, is this?” Vlad demanded, glaring at the lumpy burlap sack that was carelessly tossed over the ghost’s shoulder. Holding out his hand expectantly, Vlad stared down his unwanted guest. Skulker was usually worth the money that Vlad paid him, but at times like this when Vlad had other things to do, it was difficult to remember the bounty hunter’s worth.

Skulker blatantly ignored Vlad’s words in favor of staring, jaw literally dropped, at Vlad’s outstretched hand. The Mark, he had forgotten about the Mark! Of all the stupid-

“Congratulations,” Skulker managed to finally cough out. Vlad’s desire for violence was increasing by the second as Skulker continued to stare in complete awe and befuddlement at Vlad’s glowing green arm. His sleeve and glove were not enough to block out the light it produced; Vlad had not thought to check how the Mark would manifest in his ghostly form. “I had no idea that you were Conjoined. My apologies.”

“Wait, what?” Vlad demanded, retracting his arm and tucking it carefully behind his cape.

“Humans call them soul matches or something equally primitive. Ghosts can become Conjoined with one another, a melding of our most base elements,” Skulker explained, finally rediscovering his manners and turning away to fuss with his bag. “It’s not something one typically…flaunts.”

Apparently, Vlad’s irregular Soul Mark was the ghostly equivalent of flashing one’s genitals. Of course it was. Tucking his cape even more tightly around his scandalous Mark, Vlad pondered this new realm of possibilities. Perhaps his soulmate was a ghost; the Mark might not be a function of his biology at all, but rather that of his partner. The thought of having a ghost for a soul mate was somehow even less appealing than having a human soul mate. Ghosts were idiots. Powerful and eternal, yes, but still complete and utter idiots. Most ghosts were a single facet of a personality, driven by one primary desire. It was their greatest weakness. Vlad despised weakness.

“You are going to tell me everything you know about human Soul Marks and this Conjoining business. In return, I won’t maim you for disturbing my slumber,” Vlad threatened, barring his fangs and flashing his eyes. Skulker nodded vigorously; he had been on the receiving end of his employer’s displeasure before.

Vlad grabbed a pad of paper and a pencil from his lab table. It was time for some answers.

* * *

 

Covering up the Mark so that no one could see it glowing ended up requiring two black Mark sleeves from the government center and a thick leather glove to cover his hand. Just to be safe, Danny put on a hoodie as well. He was paranoid that the edge of the sleeve would shift and some of the glow would escape. Or the Mark would shift just a little higher up his elbow and everyone would get a view of the world’s most messed up Soul Mark.

“And you’re saying it glows?” Sam asked eagerly after Danny had finished explaining just how awful his eighteenth birthday was turning out to be. Sam leaned across the lunchroom table, trying to catch a peek of the Mark. “Like, what kind of glow? Glow stick? Firefly? Strobe light? Could we have a rave with your Soul Mark?”

“NO!” Danny squawked a little too loudly. Thankfully the rest of the student body of Casper High already knew he was a freak and the outburst was ignored. It was one of the few perks of being at the bottom of the social ladder. “Sorry. It’s like, a ghostly glow? But not green like my powers. It’s pinkish red, and it takes up my entire freaking arm. On top of that, it keeps moving around.”

“I wanna see it,” Sam declared, making a lunge across the table. Danny’s reflexes, after four years of fighting ghosts, were prone to overreacting and he ended up toppling backwards off the cafeteria bench in an attempt to stay away from Sam’s grabbing hands.

“Lay off, Sam,” Tucker intervened as he helped Danny off the floor. “If he wanted everyone to see it, he wouldn’t have it covered up!”

“Alright, alright,” she conceded, picking her terfwich back up and taking a mulish bite out of it. “You can’t just tell me that your Mark is unlike every other Mark in existence, _glows_ and _moves_ , and not expect me to want to see it immediately. Have you met me?”

“Unfortunately,” Danny sighed, pushing something that might have been carrots at one point around his plate with a fork. His friends hadn’t been contrite when he told them how screwed up his Mark was; they were _ecstatic_. “Come over to my place after school and I’ll show it to you. That way you can get a better sense of just how completely fucked I am.”

“Language, Mr. Fenton!” Mr. Lancer cried from three tables away. Danny froze. Hopefully, that was the only part of the conversation that their teacher had heard. “Such profanity merits a detention, wouldn’t you agree? This afternoon.”

“Sorry sir, I was just telling Sam and Tucker what my Replete Soul Mark says and why I have to keep it covered up,” Danny lied quickly. He heard Sam and Tucker gasp and ignored them. There were two important rules when bullshitting Lancer: never break eye contact and don’t let him see that you’re nervous. Sometimes Danny felt bad that he was such a skilled liar, keeping his family at arm’s length and unable to keep more than two friends. When it came to Lancer though, Danny had almost made a sport out of it.

“Ah, well,” Lancer coughed awkwardly. Danny kept his face a careful balance of blankness and sincerity so that his teacher couldn’t see how smug he actually felt. Lancer could not, legally, ask to see Danny’s Mark to prove whether or not Danny was lying. Everyone knew that Danny had a Determinate Soul Mark, and students’ birthdays were posted on the bulletin board in the school office for everyone to see. “Just, keep it to yourself from now on Mr. Fenton. And happy birthday.”

As the teacher walked away, Danny let out a sigh of relief. Telling people that his Mark had profanity in it was actually a really good idea. It would explain him wanting to keep it covered so completely.

“Wow Danny,” Tucker said as they all turned their attentions back to their respective lunches. “That was ballsy. But now people are gunna think your Mark is obscene or something. Yeah, that’ll keep the teachers away, but what about everybody else? If people hear that your Mark is potentially bad ass, they’re gunna wanna see it.”

“I can handle being pestered, and if anyone tries to rip the sleeve off I can stop them with my powers. And then press charges,” Danny added as an afterthought. The forced baring of a Soul Mark was punishable by federal law, after all. That should keep people like Dash, who was relying on a football scholarship for college, from doing anything too stupid.

Sam and Tucker exchanged a concerned look, but Danny ignored them. The Mark was suddenly seeming more manageable.

* * *

 

“That is literally the coolest thing I have ever seen, including your ghost powers,” Sam declared. Other than the minor kerfuffle with Mr. Lancer during lunch, Danny’s first day with a Replete Soul Mark had gone pretty smoothly. As far as the first day of the rest of his life went, things could have been a lot worse.

“It’s so warm,” Tucker said with his hands hovering just above Danny’s left forearm. “Like, really warm. I thought you were running pretty cold these days with your ice core.”

“Yeah, that’s something else I don’t understand,” Danny admitted as he grabbed an infrared thermometer off the lab table. “Look. Most of my body is somewhere in the low eighties, high seventies temperature-wise while I’m in my human form. But look at how hot my left arm is.”

Tucker and Sam came around behind Danny to watch the display as he pointed the thermometer at his Marked arm. “111.67°F?” Sam exclaimed, yanking the device out of Danny’s hand. “That’s like, thirteen degrees warmer than average body temperature! I thought you said you were fine?”

“I am! It doesn’t feel weird at all,” Danny promised quickly. “You’d think my core would be freaking out, or cooling it off or something, but it’s fine. Just another weird thing about this busted Mark.”

“That’s gotta be like, really offensive to your soulmate to keep calling the Mark stuff like that, dude,” Tucker pointed out. “You’re basically saying that their soul is a piece of crap.”

“Well it is, but it’s not _their_ fault. My ghost powers must have screwed up their soul somehow. I am going to have so much to apologize for if we ever meet,” Danny sighed, taking the thermometer out of Sam’s hand and putting it back on the overpacked shelf with the rest of his parents’ more mundane equipment.

“I wonder how their Mark looks,” Sam mused. She hopped up on the counter and began swinging her legs back and forth. “Like, how did your soul manifest? Is it just as unique? Or did they get the stereotypical Mark experience?”

“I hope it looks normal,” Danny admitted, toying absently with the parts in a box of broken lab equipment. That had been eating him up inside; he already knew that his soulmate was going to be disappointed with him but knowing that he had messed up their Marks just by existing was a little more heavy than Danny had bargained for. “Imagine being a normal person and suddenly waking up one morning with a freakish, glowing green arm. If they’re not from Amity Park, they’re going to be so confused. And if they **are** from Amity Park, they’re going to be completely terrified that their soulmate is a ghost. I don’t know which is worse.”

“How do you know it’ll be green?” Tucker asked. Danny went still, the broken thermos cap he had been playing with falling from his hand. How did he know it would be green? Just like at lunch the day before, when Danny had known that he was younger soul in the pair. All soulmate bonds were created equal; there was no such thing as a strong bond or a weak bond. But sometimes, with enough focus and positive intentions, people were able to glean information about their soulmates. Danny had never had a single positive thought about his Mark or soulmate, and he certainly wasn’t concentrating on them very hard. So why was he getting flashes of insight into his potential partner?

“That’s what color my powers are,” Danny hedged. “I just assumed-”

*BEEP*BEEP*BEEP*

Tucker’s PDA, for once, went off at a convenient time. Danny didn’t want to explain to his friends that the reason he knew what color his soulmate’s Mark was (he was certain of it now, there was no chance for normalcy) really just boiled down to a gut feeling.

“It’s Technus, he’s taken over the new automatic shopper kiosk in the mall and has a bunch of people hostage,” Tucker said, turning the screen around so Sam and Danny could see the news feed.

“I’m going ghost!” Danny shouted, transforming mid jump and speeding out through the ceiling. This was turning into the worst birthday Danny had ever had.

* * *

 

Vlad woke from his nap feeling refreshed. Rejuvenated. And most importantly, he was motivated. His conversation with Skulker had been…enlightening. And entertaining; the topic of Conjoining was apparently delicate for ghosts, almost like sex-ed in its own way.

Ghosts Conjoined for any number of reasons. Usually it was spontaneous after centuries of near constant contact; Johnny and Kitty were the example that the bounty hunter had used. The spectral embodiment of forbidden lovers, inextricably tied for all time. Love, companionship, power…the reasons for Conjoining were infinite. And Vlad had consented to none of them. Vlad had not spent enough time around any other ghost for Conjoining to occur. As far as he could tell, his Mark was somewhere between a Replete Soul Mark and a very powerful Conjoining. Which made sense, seeing as he was both ghost and human.

There was a downside, of course. Other than the fact that Vlad had been saddled with such an invasive fate to begin with. The Mark was a physical manifestation of another ghost’s ectosignature. Vlad had direct access to the core of another ghost, which given the right circumstances he would have no qualms about exploiting. Unfortunately, it seemed to be a two-way street. Some undeserving cretin was floating around with Vlad’s ectosignature on their arm, able to use his powers at will.

Vlad had to find his soulmate immediately. The amount of destruction they could cause was unfathomable. Halfas were more than the sum of their parts; even Daniel, at his young age with such minimal experience, was more powerful than _almost_ any pure ghost Vlad had ever met. Vlad himself was a magnificent, powerful specimen. His powers would undoubtedly overwhelm a lesser being. Whomever Vlad’s powers had been bestowed upon was, without a doubt, unworthy of him. They had to be captured. Vlad would figure out what to do with them once they were safely secured in his lab, but he doubted that their life expectancy would be very long once he got a hold of them.

* * *

 

“Technus, this isn’t what they meant when they advertised for an electronic shopper,” Danny quipped as he dodged a barrage of toasters. He’d never gotten in a fight in a kitchen appliance store, but there was a first time for everything. “The entire point is that someone else does the work, and you stay the hell away from my town!”

Danny let off a barrage of green blasts, hitting Technus squarely in the chest. Unfortunately, his chest was currently made of several adjustable bed frames and their mattresses, so the blow didn’t really do anything.

“Ghost child!” Technus wailed, bringing the toasters back around for another pass. “Your language is getting more foul the older you get. Your parents should be ashamed!”

Which was a fair point, and Danny definitely had a suitably scathing comeback to mask his discomfort over the fact that his parents would definitely be ashamed of a lot of stuff he did these days, except he had to dive through a wall to avoid being turned into toast.

Taking a moment to catch his breath, Danny glanced down to make sure his Mark was still covered. The barest flicker of pinkish-red glow could be seen around his elbow, but other than that everything was still under wraps. If someone made the connection that Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom had the same Marks, his life was pretty much over. Literally, since his parents would then peel him down layer by layer in their lab. Danny liked to think that being their son would at least spare him the indignity of a public molecular peeling.

“Where are you, ghost child?” Technus bellowed, blasting through the wall that Danny was currently hiding behind.

Without thinking, Dany held up his left arm to shield himself. Instead of his usual green energy field, a solid magenta barrier formed, surrounding Danny and protecting him from the blast. Danny stared down at his hand in horror. That wasn’t his ectosignature. That was- Danny couldn’t-

Another blast from Technus sent Danny careening down into the food court two floors below.

“Well well well,” Technus taunted as he floated down smugly. It was unfair just how well a ghost who was currently made up of bedframes could still smirk. “The ghost child went and got Conjoined. Congratulations! And you’ve kept the Mark covered. Maybe you’re not so bad after all, for a young whippersnapper.”

“I literally have no idea what you’re talking about,” Danny panted as he hauled himself off the broken table he had landed on. Discreetly, behind his back, Danny unhooked the Fenton Thermos from his belt. Conjoined was probably the ghost version of having a soulmate. Danny’s soulmate had to be a ghost. It wasn’t his fault that the Mark was fucked up; it was his soulmate’s fault. That wasn’t very comforting. “And I’m pretty much done with this conversation.”

Yanking the cap off the Thermos, Danny captured Technus in the beam of blue light. He really had to start using the thermos _before_ causing massive property damage.

With Technus safely contained, Danny turned his attention to his hand. The ectosignature of barrier he had made felt so familiar…

* * *

 

That night, after dumping Technus back into the Ghost Zone and suffering through cake and presents with his family, Danny finally found himself alone in his room. Danny hated everything about his eighteenth birthday. It wasn’t the worst individual day of his life, but it had certainly been the worst birthday Danny had ever had.

Finally alone for the first time that day, Danny pulled off the sleeves and glove that covered his Mark. A magenta glow filled the dark room. The lower part of his left arm was a swirling mass of glowing, ghostly energy that Danny felt he should have been able to recognize immediately. There was just something about it that made Danny think that he had seen it before.

If Danny was able to use the powers of whatever ghost this energy belonged to, then they were probably able to use his too. Given how strong the barrier had been, Danny wasn’t too concerned about his powers overwhelming his soulmate. Halfas were stronger than both humans and ghosts, but whoever this ectosignature belonged to was more than a match for Danny. That was fine, he was used to having his ass kicked. The problem was that having access to his ectosignature gave this unknown ghost direct access to his core. That was definitely a bad thing.

Danny stared at the Mark. He knew he was the younger of the pair. He knew what his partner’s Mark would look like. He knew what their ectosignature was. Danny had learned all of that without even trying. Maybe, if he put some effort into it, Danny would be able to find something that identified his soulmate.

Accidentally gleaning information was one thing, but the thought of purposefully looking for answers left Danny feeling a little queasy. He had spent his entire life hating the Mark and dreading meeting his soulmate. In order to get the information he needed, information that was probably vital to his survival, Danny would have to give up his life long contempt for the entire soulmate phenomenon.

This was definitely the worst eighteenth birthday in the history of eighteenth birthdays.

* * *

 

Vlad was sitting in his favorite office chair in his lab, eyes closed and waiting for his breathing to completely even out. He had never attempted to learn anything about his soulmate before, but that didn’t mean he was ignorant of the process. With dedication and determination, one had the potential to glean certain facts about their partner. Most of the literature on soulmates said that such a task required a positive outlook and a genuine desire to find their other half. Vlad did not have either of those qualities, but he was stubborn and motivated which in his experience could make up the difference for just about anything.

Focusing on the ectosignature embedded in his right arm, Vlad mentally took stock of what he was sensing. The energy was constantly in rapid motion, tugging and pushing at the line where Vlad’s skin ended and the Mark began. It felt like it wanted to consume Vlad, as though it was trying to rejoin with something that it had lost.

The ectosignature stilled for a moment, seeming to feel Vlad’s attention, which was completely ridiculous but Vlad forced himself to go with it. The other presence seemed…excited.

Vlad allowed himself to be pulled deeper into the foreign presence on his arm, getting caught up in its enthusiasm. He was finally there, with them, and they were so happy to see him! They were sorry that he had to wait so long, so lonely without them. But it was going to be okay, because now they could be together again! Just like they were meant to be. Completely intertwined, no way to tell where one began and the other ended. Whole.

But first, Vlad had to see something. It was imperative, the presence insisted as it urged him deeper. If they were going to be together like Vlad wanted, then Vlad had to understand. Vlad had to see. Vlad had to accept.

Completely caught up in the sensation of nearly being whole (and how had Vlad not realized before just how broken and lonely he was?) Vlad consented immediately. The presence wouldn’t hurt him. It adored him, it needed him. Vlad would do whatever it asked of him. That pleased the presence, even more than his attention had.

Here, the presence said. This is what you need to see. This is our inner most self. This is who we are, the missing part of you.

A biting cold sensation swept through Vlad, starting with his right arm and sweeping rapidly across his entire body. It left pins and needles in its wake before eventually even those faded into complete numbness. Vlad couldn’t breathe, his lungs were filled with air that was too cold to use. In his mind’s eye, Vlad saw a dark cavern. Sharp spires of ice rose up jaggedly to meet Vlad, like the maw of a beast trying to snare it in its jaws. Pain lanced through his body as the shards of ice bit through his mind-flesh.

Vlad opened his mouth to scream, to call for help-

All at once he was back in his lab. The foreign ectosignature in his arm buzzed contentedly before going silent.

The experience had left Vlad with more questions that answers, but at least he had learned one concrete fact: his soulmate was obscenely powerful.

* * *

 

Danny took a deep breath. He could do this. He had already done it, kinda. The ectosignature was so familiar, Danny just needed a little more information. A little more and he’d be able to find the partner he never wanted.

How had he done it the other times? Tucker had said something, and Danny had immediately been able to tell if he was right or wrong. Okay, so he had to play Twenty Questions alone in his room. With his arm. That wasn’t weird at all.

“Okay,” he said out loud. All the other times had been spoken, and Danny didn’t see any reason to mess with a formula that worked. “I’m the younger soul.”

Nothing. Danny already knew that, but he was hoping for a confirmation as a baseline test, or something. He paid attention in science classes sometimes, he wasn’t a complete idiot.

“I know the person whose ectosignature is on my arm,” Danny tried. Again, nothing, but that had to mean that it was true. Right?

“My soulmate is freaked out that their arm is glowing green,” he said. No, that wasn’t quite right. They weren’t freaked out, they were _pissed_.

“Okay, that’s progress,” he muttered, flexing his glowing fingers. “My soulmate is a ghost, and I know them.”

_Not quite._

“Not quite?” Danny repeated in frustration. “Either they are or they aren’t, I know them or I don’t!”

_Not. Quite._

Danny growled in frustration. What kind of bullshit answer was “not quite”? It was a simple yes or no! Even his own subconscious was out to get him. The only thing close to being not quite a ghost was being a-

_Say it._

“No,” Danny whispered, absolutely horrified. There was no way. It was impossible.

_You know them. They are older. You know their ectosignature. You know they bear your ectosignature. They are like you, not quite one or the other. Say it._

“My soulmate is Vlad Masters,” Danny whispered, so quietly that he could barely hear it.

_Yes._


End file.
